Meridian Investment Counsel Inc. Boosts Stake in Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA)

Meridian Investment Counsel Inc. lifted its holdings in Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) by 19.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,051 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock after purchasing an additional 171 shares during the period. Meridian Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Tesla were worth $424,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Tesla during the 4th quarter worth approximately $14,420,248,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC increased its position in shares of Tesla by 36,790.0% during the fourth quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 8,660,672 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $3,497,526,000 after purchasing an additional 8,637,195 shares in the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC raised its stake in Tesla by 55,181.0% in the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 4,382,674 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $1,769,899,000 after purchasing an additional 4,374,746 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its holdings in Tesla by 194.7% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 5,486,739 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $2,215,765,000 after purchasing an additional 3,624,910 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Tesla by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 243,193,181 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $98,211,134,000 after purchasing an additional 3,571,793 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 66.20% of the company’s stock.

Tesla Price Performance

Shares of TSLA opened at $263.55 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $847.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 129.19, a PEG ratio of 5.86 and a beta of 2.50. The company has a current ratio of 2.02, a quick ratio of 1.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. Tesla, Inc. has a twelve month low of $138.80 and a twelve month high of $488.54. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $321.33 and its 200-day simple moving average is $323.01.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.74 by ($0.08). Tesla had a return on equity of 10.31% and a net margin of 7.26%. Equities analysts forecast that Tesla, Inc. will post 2.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently weighed in on TSLA. Roth Capital raised shares of Tesla from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. Piper Sandler lowered their target price on Tesla from $500.00 to $450.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Tesla in a report on Monday, February 10th. Cantor Fitzgerald raised Tesla from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $425.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Finally, Cowen upgraded Tesla from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $318.34.

Insider Buying and Selling at Tesla

In other Tesla news, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 7,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $413.56, for a total transaction of $2,894,920.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 108,965 shares in the company, valued at approximately $45,063,565.40. The trade was a 6.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director James R. Murdoch sold 54,776 shares of Tesla stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $240.79, for a total transaction of $13,189,513.04. Following the transaction, the director now owns 477,011 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $114,859,478.69. The trade was a 10.30 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 477,228 shares of company stock valued at $166,849,043. 20.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About Tesla

Tesla, Inc designs, develops, manufactures, leases, and sells electric vehicles, and energy generation and storage systems in the United States, China, and internationally. The company operates in two segments, Automotive, and Energy Generation and Storage. The Automotive segment offers electric vehicles, as well as sells automotive regulatory credits; and non-warranty after-sales vehicle, used vehicles, body shop and parts, supercharging, retail merchandise, and vehicle insurance services.